Singaporean pleads guilty to sending bomb threats to Taiwanese politicians on Facebook to ‘test’ if they read his messages

SINGAPORE, July 15 — Frustrated that Taiwanese politicians had not responded to his claims that the use of coal power plants was causing cancer, a man sent bomb threats over Facebook messenger to “test” if they had seen his messages.

Loo Peng Seng, a 53-year-old Singaporean who has been diagnosed as suffering from delusional disorder, pleaded guilty to three charges under the Protection from Harassment Act (Poha) today.

One other charge under Poha will be taken into consideration for sentencing.

A report assessing his suitability for a mandatory treatment order has been called for by the judge. Loo, who also uses the name Spencer, will be sentenced on August 26.

A mandatory treatment order directs offenders suffering from certain treatable psychiatric conditions to undergo treatment for up to three years.

In a March 25 statement, the police said that a woman had made a police report earlier that month after coming across a Facebook post by a public figure based overseas which stated that he had received bomb threats from someone claiming to be from Singapore.

The man was arrested within 12 hours of the reported bomb threats and preliminary investigations had revealed that he had no intention or means to carry out his threats.

What happened

Sometime between July and November 2018, Loo started sending direct messages to two Taiwanese politicians, the president of Taiwan’s legislature Han Guo Yu, and Lo Chih-Chiang, a member of the legislature.

Loo sent messages to the politicians’ Facebook accounts over Facebook messenger, in which he urged them to stop building coal power plants and instead adopt his design for a hydroelectric power plant.

He believed that the use of coal power plants was causing cancer to the Taiwanese population and that using a hydroelectric plant instead would provide a clean and renewable energy solution.

The man did not receive any replies from the politicians and grew frustrated about that.

On February 28, 2024, Loo decided to craft and send threatening messages to the politicians to “test” if they had seen his messages, said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Matthew Choo.

Loo hypothesised that if he was approached by the authorities following the sending of the messages, it would confirm that the politicians had read his messages but “deliberately ignored” him, said DPP Choo.

On February 28, Loo sent a message to Han stating that he was going to “bring a lot of bombs” to place in his car or home.

Loo also wrote similar bomb threats to Lo, stating that he would use bombs to “blow (him) up to pieces”.

The next day, he sent another message over Facebook, stating: “Han Guo Yu, I am going to make sure I will also blow up your family members with car bombs.”

On March 1, the man wrote another message to Lo, stating that he had “a lot of bombs” and would bomb his home and the legislative building.

As a result of the threatening messages, Han referred the matter to the Chinese Taipei Police for investigations, and Lo reported the matter to the Taipei City Government Police.

In response to the bomb threats, security measures at Taiwan’s legislature were strengthened.

The court heard that Loo neither intended to execute his threats nor did he have any capability to do so.

On March 4, the police received a report highlighting a Facebook post dated March 3, 2024 by Lo.

The politician’s posts referred to bomb threats from a Spencer Lui who urged Lo to report him to the Singapore authorities.

Loo was charged on March 26 and remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for psychiatric assessment.

A senior consultant at IMH certified that Loo was of sound mind, capable of making his defence and fit to plead in a court of law. Loo was also assessed to suffer a type of delusional disorder.

Loo was released on bail of S$15,000 (RM52,230) on April 9 and remains on bail.

Anyone who intentionally causes harassment, alarm or distress can be jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$5,000, or both. — TODAY